It's hard to believe that, until fairly recently, Julian Assange was hailed not just as a radical thinker, but as a radical achiever, too.

Now, he seeks asylum in Ecuador, with its insalubrious record on press freedom, and its high incidence of uninvestigated reports of rape. His has been a vertiginous fall, possibly brought about, in part, by his own hubris.

The journalist Jemima Khan, who contributed to Assange's bail, which she now stands to lose, says she would like him to face the allegations of rape and sexual assault that await him in Sweden. Of course he should. But as Khan also points out, his real fear – which is not to say his justified fear – is that he will be extradited from Sweden to the US, and charged for his WikiLeaks activities with the greatest possible aggression.

Since the US has made no attempt to deny this, and though it has reportedly been a struggle to formulate charges against WikiLeaks, it is hard to dismiss Assange's fears as paranoia. The situation proves some of the points about western democracy Assange set out to make in the first place. I doubt that's much of a comfort to him.

• This article was amended on 26 June 2012 and on 27 June 2012 to make clear that Julian Assange has not had charges brought against him in Sweden.